RWBY and Sapphire
by 7-12m3
Summary: Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Root didn't disband like they were supposed to. So he puts together team RWBY, knowing that they will quickly rise through the ranks of Root. He hopes that one day team RWBY will take Root over from Danzo, while still being loyal to the Hokage. But nothing is ever that easy in the land of fire and shadow.
1. Chapter 1

AN:55hi55 / 7-12m3 doesn't own RWBY or Naruto or any of the characters that are a part of either series. This disclaimer applies to the entirety of the story, "RWBY and Sapphire."

* * *

He walks into the room like he owns it. Eyes, peering through small lensed glasses, taking in everything and everyone at once. His black suit is wrinkle free, as is the green undershirt he wears, or at least what I can see of it. The cane he carries in his left hand is polished and well used. He turns sharp on his heel, once he stands in directly in front of Iruka's desk. His eyes lock with ours, and no one says a word. He measures us, gauging us with his eyes, taking in every detail. I have never felt this exposed in my life.

"The konoha standard policy, is a four man cell. Three genin students, learning from and being protected by a jounin instructor. However, there are times when Konoha has a number of genin that cannot be divided up into groups of three." He stops and takes a sip from his coffee mug. "The instructors at the academy normally attempt to fail a number of... children," His gaze is as condescending as his tone. "In such a way that this doesn't happen." He leans back against the desk, posture relaxing slightly.

"However, there is no point to a test, if the person who takes the test has no way to pass. As such the instructors are forced to pass everyone with a high enough score, and because of this one or two teams of four genin are assembled." He looked at us expectantly, "You four are an example of such a team.

"Do any of you know who I am?"

"_Kakashi-sensei?"_

"_No, Naruto-baka, he said four! There are only three of us. Now be quiet."_

"_Sorry Sakura-chan."_

"You're our sensei, Ozpin." I answered. "A jounin of Konoha, assigned to be our instructor, for our first year as genin."

"A... correct answer, but not quite accurate. Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Ozpin- just Ozpin- you may call me Ozpin-sensei, Professor Ozpin, or just sir," He paused to set the coffee mug he was holding down on Iruka's desk. "I enjoy coffee, and getting out of my office. I was once an active jonin of konoha, now my primary occupation is researching and inventing new jutsu. My purpose here today is to test the four of you, and then fail you."

"_Harsh."_

"_I said be quiet, Naruto!" _

"Wait! What do you mean fail us?" The white haired member of my team said.

Ozpin gave her a flat look. "I have been ordered to 'test' your potential as ninja, then fail all of you- in doing so I would normally be, taking away your Hitai-ate and sending you back to the academy." He stopped to pick up and take a sip from his coffee mug, ignoring our horrified looks. "But that has very little to do with the fact that they are are four of you." He pauses, looks down, and swirls his coffee mug, looking a million miles away for a brief moment. "No, every year they pull me from my work and throw me in front of a team of newly minted genin, and tell me to, test, and then fail them." His eyes snap back onto us.

"_Does that mean Kakashi-sensei will try to send us back to the academy too?"_

"_Nah- there are three of us, he has no reason to send us back!"_

"_He should you send you back, dobe."_

I was about to cry, my dreams of being an awesome ninja, were shattering before my eyes.

"But- but- you- you said something about a test, what happens if we pass it?" Again from my white haired teammate, the note of panic in her voice was mostly hidden by her challenge.

"That is correct, I am required to test you. Now, your four girls seem clever, why would I test you if I was just going to fail you- regardless of your performance during the test?"

"Unless... Unless the... outcome isn't as straightforward as you make it sound?" My sister questioned.

"Very good Yang." Another sip from his coffee mug. "While it is against standard operating procedure to have a five man cell. If I were to report that the four of you are far better off as one cohesive unit and that your talents would be wasted in the academy. Then they will assemble all of you into a five man cell." He crosses his arms as a small smirk graced his lips. "I am not inclined to do that."

Wait! What was that noise? Oh that was the sound of my dreams shattering... again.

"I am old, I am a cripple. I do not carry this cane, because I like it. I am not a Jonin because I am as powerful as a Jonin should be." A pause, a sip of his coffee. "And I am tired of being treated as such.

"Every year they drag me out to test and fail genin teams that are not ready to be ninja." A hand reaches into his suit jacket. "Despite the fact that you have passed the academy's test, I was told that you four are not ready-" The hand re-emerges holding four manilla folders. "And, as such, I was told to fail you." He sets his coffee mug back down on the desk.

The top file is opened, he begins to read, "Weiss Schnee; the heiress of the most successful fuuinjutsu shop in the land of Hi no Kuni. Your father wants you to be a ninja, so that when the day comes you are better able to manage the wares of his shop. I'm supposed to fail you because you have shown no potential to work well in any team." He slaps the file down on the desk behind him and starts in on the next file, even as Weiss' face turns beet red.

"Blake Belladonna; daughter of two former chunin, both of whom defected from another village. I'm supposed to fail you because of, potential conflicting loyalties." My black haired teammate looked annoyed.

Slap, the folder hits the desk. And with a ruffle the next one opens.

"Yang Xiao Long, the daughter of two shinobi, one deceased. Recruited into the shinobi program after your prodiginous physical strength was noticed. I'm supposed to fail you because of your ... explosive anger issues." My sister blushes and looks down at her shoes.

Another folder joins the stack.

"Ruby Rose, half sister of Yang Xiao Long. Followed her sister into the program, and proved to be a genius of battle. I'm supposed to fail you because, and I quote, 'Ruby Rose does not meet the minimum age requirement to be a shinobi of the leaf.'" My breath hitched at the end, I had thought that wasn't going to be an issue.

The fourth and final folder lands on the stack. The stack disappears back into his jacket.

"All four of you scored above average on the tests in the academy. That doesn't change the fact that this team was built to fail. Full of wasted energy, in need of purpose and direction." He picks up his cane that he had leaning up against the desk beside him. Straightens to his full height, and looks each of us in the eye.

"However your four have the ability to give me something that I want, and I have the ability to give you something you want. So I say, that we give them to each other." He looked at us then, and I felt myself straighten up in my seat, this was a look that held so much expectation of... of us. This man believed that we could help him. And not just that we could, but that we were going to.

"Now I will test you. And **if **you four impress me, then I will pass you, and you will be handed off to a jonin that is more capable of teaching and protecting you out in the field, than this old cripple." He waved his hand down gesturing to himself, "That is why I am not inclined to pass you four." He stopped to observe our faces.

My eyes never left his face, surely there was a way to make this work out for me! "I want to be the jonin that is out in the field, teaching and protecting you. When I test you, you will give me your all, because you must impress me. You will work as a team, because Konoha values teamwork above most all other things," he looked pointedly at Weiss "And between now and tomorrow, each of you will make known to the Lord Hokage how excited you are to have **me **as your instructor. If you all do these things, then you will be proud shinobi of the Leaf. If any of you fail to do those things then make no mistake, I **will **fail all of you.

"Even if I do pass you- there will be more tests, tests that are far more difficult than anything I can do to you four. If you are not ready for those tests, then you will- still- fail." A pause to take a sip of his coffee, I didn't even notice him pick the mug back up. "I will see all of you here at fifteen hundred tomorrow."

And with that he walked out the door. It was surreal, he walked in turned my life upside down, said 'see you tomorrow' and walked out the door.

"Uh, what just happened?" My sister Yang said.

"I think we have to be his genin or we won't be genin at all..." I said meekly. My mind felt like it was moving through molasses, and free falling all at once.

"Ahh! Cheer up Ruby! It's not that bad!" My sister tried to comfort me. I gave her a small smile for her efforts.

"Humph! I'll be fine as long as you guys don't slow me down! And you better not slow me down, I can't afford to not be a ninja." Well Weiss certainly is a team player.

"_Hnnn."_

"Actually he just said we would normally go back to the academy." My black haired teammate, Blake, said. "We could repass the test and try again next year." She calmly pointed out.

"A YEAR a whole YEAR! I don't have time to wait a year! My dad is already disappointed I haven't made genin yet!" Weiss exclaimed. I absently noted she likes to exclaim things. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt though, this whole situation is putting a lot of stress on all of us...

"That's not very fair, the soonest you can be a ninja is age 11, now, even if my little sister is skimming that line." Yang said as she turned around in her chair, straddling the back of the chair to look at the rest of us properly. Then she shot me a smug, but proud, look.

"Only by six months! And I think we need to focus on passing that test, not talking about how old ninja are!" I stated with all the authority I could muster, Scooting my own chair around ninety degrees to better face the group.

Weiss started to argue but before she could open her mouth Blake shook her head as if to clear it, and said, "Ruby is right, we only have 24 hours until the test we need to focus on passing it." She backed me up, so I shot her a grateful smile.

"But-"

"Right! Sooo, how do we do that?" I love Yang, I really do, but she can be a bit airheaded at times.

"Well he said we have to work as a team and impress him. So... I think we need a strategy and... maybe we should... spar... on teams or something?" I said quickly, but my confidence faltered under the gazes of my teammates.

Weiss looked like she was going to say something, but Yang cut her off. "That's a great idea! I call Ruby for the first spar!"

"Fine!" Weiss had a mini-explosion "But who made her team leader!?"

...

"Do you have any better ideas?" Blake asked after a pause of silence.

Weiss deflated. "...No."

"Alright then! Come on Ruby let's go get ready!" Yang grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me off to one of the nearby training grounds.

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense." Blake says.

I turn around walking backwards, so that I can face Blake as she's talking. "What do you mean?"

"The test that Professor Ozpin is giving us. It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't get it, why doesn't it make sense?" Yang inquires.

"He makes it sound so easy... He flat out said that he had been told to fail us- but now he's not going to. He made a really big deal about it too..." Blake trails off.

"Yeah, he did say he was ordered to fail us..." Weiss said. That gave me pause.

Blake stops walking altogether, prompting the rest of us to do the same."And that's not all, in the academy the teachers never told us what was going to be on the next test, that there was a next test. So now that things are supposed to be harder, why would he tell us exactly what we need to do to pass?"

I decided to play devils advocate. "He said he was tired of his office job, and wants to go back out on missions."

"Have you heard dad talk about missions Ruby?" Yang said, "The genin get nothing but D-ranks for months, I doubt he wants to help us paint fences."

"We'll be painting fences?" Weiss asked.

"That's what dad says! And he's a jonin so, he should know." Yang noded as if she was imparting some ancient wisdom to her teammates.

"That seems like a waste of resources." Weiss said. "Are you sure?"

"Positive! Right Ruby?"

"Uhhhh, dad does say that..." I respond to my sister.

Blake shakes her head. "It doesn't matter what missions ninja do or don't get, we won't get any if were not ninja. We need to figure out what's really going on here."

"He said he was tired of being treated like an old cripple, perhaps he wants to earn respect by training us?" I ask.

"What babysitting a bunch of kids?" Weiss gives me a pointed look. "I mean sure, some of us aren't... horrible, but have you talked to some of our classmates? I can't imagine that brings a whole lot of respect."

"What was he saying about other tests? Was he talking about missions? Or were other people going to try and stop us from being ninja?" Yang points out.

"It doesn't make any sense." Blake stops talking for a moment to pull out a small notepad and a pencil and starts jotting down some notes. "We need to make a list of everything we know for sure to be true."

"We know that we have to pass some kind of test to become Ninja." I start the list off.

"In order to pass that test, we need to show our best effort, that we need to talk to the Hokage about how we want Ozpin-sensei to be our jounin instructor," Weiss stops and takes a fortifying gulp. "And that we need to show teamwork."

"He also said that if we fail the test, he would take away our headbands and send us back to the academy." Yang put her own two cents in.

"...No Ozpin, said he would _normally _take away our headbands. Then he talked about how we were a special case." Blake, apparently has a good memory for this type of stuff, I hadn't caught that he never really said he would be taking away our headbands.

"Oh yeah, because their are four of us!" Yang figured it out.

"No, he said it has nothing to do with the fact that their are four of us" Weiss is quick to correct. "But thats not important, if we fail, and we don't go back to the academy, what happens to us?"

"He said something about being proud shinobi of the Leaf." I respond.

"No he said that's what happens if we pass, he never actually said what would happen if we fail." Blake says scribbling like mad.

We all fall silent. Thats a heavy question. Blake finally stops scribbling in the silence, pencil finally catching up to our conversation.

"So thats what we know, now what do we need to find out?" Blake says while flipping the page in her tiny little notebook for the dozenth time.

"...Why are we the exception to the rule? Normally he sends teams back to the academy, but if we fail..." I trail off, not knowing what happens if we fail anymore than my teammates do.

"And what actually happens if we fail."

"Who's giving the follow up tests? Is the consequence for failing those tests any different from failing this one?"

"Why is Ozpin disobeying orders to flat out fail us in the first place?"

"Why did he give us those BS reasons as to why we should fail?"

"Why is the leaf pushing back genin in the first place? Why turn down a volunteer soldier?

"Is there anything else we can do to pass this test?"

"Slow down! I can't write that fast!"

...

"Okay what were those last three?"

* * *

AN. Well this is my first fic. Please all you haters and non-believers out there tell me what a horrible job I did. On that note I am looking for (a) beta-reader(s). If you are interested shoot me a PM.

I saw a few RWBYxNaruto crossovers but they were all in the RWBY world. I just thought 'hey why not put RWBY in the Narutoverse?' And then I thought I'd better nut up or shut up. Well here's my nuts I hope you enjoy them.

Also pairings? What do you guys want to see?


	2. Chapter 2

A knock on my door, not unexpected, scheduled in fact- but still a pleasant wake up call from the endless monotony that is office work.

"Enter." My neck pops as I look up from hours of reading signing and filing paperwork. I grimace in pain.

"Hokage-sama?" Hmm, I don't recognize the voice- not that I expected to- chunin or below then, confirmed based on the charaka quantities- more than one? again expected- and signatures. I look at the shadows, count four of them, look at the people standing in my office doorway. The shadows match up- not a henge. Four genin, female, all of them, odd- but not threatening. I smile at my little games, at least they keep my instincts sharp.

As soon as they are in my office I know who they are. Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee.

_These four._

"What do you want?" I'm curt, just this side of impolite. They look startled, and I grimace on the inside. I hate being a dick to kids, but... this mission requires that, for now- I tell myself, only for now- they have to think I don't like them. I look back down at the papers on my desk

"Uh... Well, sir, we just wanted to say, how, er, excited we are to have Professor Ozpin as our jonin sensei!" The blond one exclaims. They begin to look around my office, this is the first time they have ever been in this office, first time meeting me- ever. Feet shuffling awkwardly on the floor, they want to sit, but I have removed all the chairs but my own from my office in anticipation of their visit. The message was silent, but clear. Tell me what you have to say then leave. I have no time for you.

"Neat." I don't look back up at them.

"Uh if this is a bad time we can come back later, sir." Blake is definitely handling this the best of the four.

"Girls, I am a very busy man, I have an entire village to run. If I stoped working for every wanna-be genin that walked through that door, things wouldn't get done. Like this for instance." I wave the piece of paper I'm 'working on' at them. "The ANBU are requesting an order of new uniforms, apparently their supply of work shirts is about to start running low." I slap a signature on the paper and throw it on the finished pile. I pick up another piece of paper. Never once looking back up at them. "Now if there is nothing else..." I point at the door.

My eyes scan the request in front of me, as I wait to hear their footsteps leave my office.

"Sir-"

"What?" I cut her off. My eyes are sharp and trained on her. Friendly is not a word that would describe my face right now.

A pause. A deep breath.

"Sir, every time Mom would come in from a mission, the first thing she would do, is take off her headband and polish it. She would sit there and polish and tell us stories of her mission, helping some client, saving a life, providing relief supplies to village in desperate need. When she finished her tale she would take that headband, now shining and bright, and put it back on her forehead. She would smile and tell us how great it is to be needed, to be a hero. To her this isn't a headband proclaiming that she is a leaf shinobi. To her it's the badge of a hero." Her voice holds the barest hint of a tremble.

"Thats what this headband means to me, sir. That when I wear this headband, I'm telling people that I am there to protect them, to help them when they need me." The headband in question is placed on my desk. "I don't know what you expect from your ninja, sir. Yesterday I thought all you expected from us was to pass the test the academy gave us. Now I hear that we need to be a certain age, or work well with others. I don't understand things like that. If someone wants to help people, shouldn't they be allowed to do that- no matter if they have a temper, or what village they were born in?" She looks up, looks me dead in the eyes, young, silver eyes- steeled not steely, she is bracing for something- meeting my old and tired ones. "If I'm not ready to be a ninja- then I don't want this." She places her headband on my desk. "Can you please give that to Professor Ozpin for me, sir? Tell him I will be coming to get it, if not tomorrow, then someday."

She turns on her heel and walks out of my office head held high. If I hadn't been looking for it I wouldn't have seen the tremble in her legs- indicative of weak knees, that was hard for her, really hard. The other three follow her out.

The door clicks closed. All is quiet. With a sigh I activate the seal that soundproofs the room. I pull out a desk drawer. Pull out my pipe and my leaves. The drawer clicks closed. Brown, aged, wrinkled hands reach out with fingertips stained yellow from years of pinching the tobacco and packing it into my pipe. A flare of fire chakra, a deep breath. Smoke fills my lungs, relaxing me in a way nothing else can.

"They have more vigor in them than I expected." I say to the room. "The will of Fire burns bright within them. It's a shame to let that go to waste."

With a shimmer, a section of the wall fades away into the image of one of my oldest jonin. The genjutsu was flawless, if I hadn't been looking for it I wouldn't have seen it. Perhaps not even then.

"Quite." Ozpin says.

"Remind me again why I just scared the shit out of four genin hopefuls."

"Because we need them to think you don't like them. Because they must be the steel that stands up under the most pressure." He waves his hand at the room, "The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire."

"God damnit Ozpin! Don't give me this crap!" I sigh. "Why are we doing this, why did I have to do that? Why did I have to chew out four genin girls who remind me so much of-" I cut myself off. My daughter in law is gone, she isn't coming back. Speaking her name won't change that. It will just be painful.

"...You know why. Better than I do even."

"It doesn't make it right." It never makes it right.

I hear him sigh. "It's for the good of Kohana."

"Don't you dare use that line to justify this shit!" I snap. "Thats why we are sending them on this mission in the first place! Because _they _think what they are doing is for the good of Kohana. _They_ kept saying that, even when _they_ nearly drove us into civil war, not once not twice, but _Three times._ Now find a better way to... to attempt to justify this."

His eyes meet mine for a moment, he sighs, and looks down at the floor. "You're right. That is the wrong attitude to have going into this mission... I suppose I should say, it is for the unity of your people. So that they know the dagger hidden in the dark is there to strike before we are struck, not to stab them in the back." A small smile, even while he looks at the floor. "So the people know that when they see a leaf headband, that person is first and foremost a protector, a hero, not an assassin."

I lean back in my chair. "Better." I say. "Much better."

For a while no one speaks. The air is heavy with the memory of past regrets. I have to remind myself that there is no use in getting mad at him. He doesn't like this any more than I do. He is just younger, more motivated, more driven. I will need that drive to see this mission through.

I take a deep drag on my pipe. I hold the smoke, in my mouth, in my lungs. I hold it till it starts to burn. And I exhale. Savoring every sensation that tingles through my body. Taking comfort in the familiar sensation. Truly, tobacco is my greatest vice.

"It's a habit that will kill you sir." I smile at the old joke.

"The tobacco?" I ask playing along. I am one of the few ninja, who live long enough to feel the after effects that smoking causes. Good ninja don't die from something as peaceful as lung cancer.

"No sir, wearing that hat." My smile fades, the truth having sucked the fun out of the joke. Silence once again reigns in the room.

"They." I stop. "No one deserves what they will have to go through. If those girls don't crack under the pressure." I sound bitter, even to myself. I have every right to be bitter, I suppose.

"Life is seldom fair." A deep bone weary sigh escapes from my jonin, I am reminded that while I am older than he, it isn't by much. "And the fact that you're not one-hundred percent positive they will do it, only makes them more likely to succeed."

A deep exhale, I watch the smoke from my pipe trail up to the ceiling. The stem tastes of the sweet tobacco, I savor the taste as much as the nicotine. I never could understand why that son of mine prefered cigarettes. Too dry, too papery.

"The older I get the less I understand why life can't be." I say as much to the room and myself as to Ozpin.

"Nevertheless here we are. Sending children off to fight a war, simply because we can't."

I growl at that reminder. As much as I hate the fact that he's right, I hate the fact that we are doing it anyway even more.

"Do you think your kids- those, kids- can win that war?"

"I wish they didn't have to." His voice is filled with regret, with pain. I can hear it. I can feel it in my bones.

"I hope they fail that test of yours tomorrow. If only because it keeps them off this mission."

"As do I. But because we don't want them to, they will pass." He smiles just a little bit. "The universe has a funny way of working like that."

A bitter laugh escapes my throat, it is rough and stumbles over the smoke in my lungs, causing me to cough.

"They will pass, you're right, but not because the universe wants them too. They will pass, because they have the drive to do will pass because they have the will to never give up. And they will complete their mission. Because their leader just left this," I pick up the discarded headband, left on my desk by one Ruby Rose. "On my desk. She said that she will be coming to take it from you."

Ozpin walks over, his cane click, click, clicking on the floor as he approaches my desk. He gently takes the headband from my hand and tucks it into his vest. "I will be sure she comes to collect it then." He says with a smile.

"In other circumstances, had I been given this team, the last thing I would have them do is go undercover." He says, looking wistfully out the window. "Too brash, too loud." A small snort of laughter. "Too colorful."

I can't help but guffaw at that. Red, yellow, white and black, it's a colour scheme worthy of Naruto.

"How are you going to get them to approach your team?"

A sigh. "I think I will be... neglectful. Be there to sign off on missions. D-ranks only of course. Then leave them to complete the mission without me. Make it clear I have things that are far more worthy of my time than them."

"Training?"

"Why bother?" A sigh. "If I train them, then it will only counteract our plans. They will have to manage on their own, for a time..."

He trails off, face downcast. Something plagues his mind.

"Speak."

A sigh. "Perhaps a C-rank mission. Relativity soon. It will have to be a calculated risk. Enough to break them, but not enough for them to quit." His face darkens, head bowed. "Force their hands to take a life."

I shudder. The hardest part of raising a child soldier is balancing development with training. Too much training and they are liable to snap. Too much catering to their needs, and limit their growth. Wait too long to put them in the field and they are easy pickings against weaker shinobi with better instincts. These girls will need to be the best, to accomplish their mission. Having the girls take a life on the first mission out of the village will make them monsters, or will harden their hearts for what is ahead.

I didn't make my first kill till I was 16. By then I had seen many men die, beaten many foes, my heart was ready for it. But to have your first kill, be the first murder you witness- as Ozpin suggests? It's a risky move to be sure.

"Perhaps," I allow, "We'll make that call when the time comes. In the meantime, we need to secure their loyalty to the Village, proper."

A sly grin spreads across his face. "That's simple, let their D-ranks be charity work. While they work make sure they are regaled with tales of how Konoha is great, not for its military strength, but for its Heart."

I smile, it is a good idea. "Let them forge their own light to carry into the darkness... I will make sure it happens. Some might say it's special treatment, but a 'random' D-rank is a 'random' D-rank." My smile turns into a smirk.

"Sir... Do you have any suggestions, as to how I should proceed? I've told you what I intend to do, is it wise? Is it what you would do, were you in my place?"

My eyes widen in shock. Ozpin, is one of my best, he has led more successful missions than than most jonin take in their entire career. He has learned, long long ago, to think for himself, to come up with answers rather than seek them from a commanding officer. An independent jonin, is the best jonin. That he is breaking down and asking for my advice, speaks volumes.

"I cannot and will not micromanage this mission Ozpin. You are on your own. Any idea to be implemented must be your idea. Our foe knows me too well for it to be otherwise." I sigh, "That being said, yes it is what I would do in your place, or something very similar."

"I understand sir."

"This is the last time we will be able to speak so openly of this mission. From here on out you, and your team, are behind enemy lines. Your team's primary goal is to keep those girls loyal to the people of this village. Your secondary goal is to keep those girls safe. Your tertiary goal, and the one you must achieve above the primary and secondary goal, is to infiltrate and dismantle from within, the criminal organization known as ROOT aka Ne, led by one Danzō Shimura."


End file.
